PROLOGUE

Two fraternities, both alike in dignity

At Verona University, (where we lay our scene)

From ancient grudge breaks to new mutiny

And civil blood makes civil hand unclean

From these two rivaling frats

A pair of star crossed lover get #wrecked

Whose misadventured piteous overthrows

Make their frats cool with each other

The fearful passage of this sort of fucked up love

And the continuance of their fraternities' beef

Which but some fucked up shit naught could remove

So anyways, that's what this story's about

You should read it

Really. I missed a lot of stuff in this prologue, keep going if you want to know what happens

BENJI

I'm not really sure where to begin, honestly. I guess I'll start out by saying I have done nothing wrong. Legitimately, in this whole scenario I'm pretty much the only one that's completely blameless. This is basically just the tale of how Benji Vause stayed in his lane while all of his friends completely fucked up everything. But, well, it's really not about me. I'd say the story starts with that fight, the day before Halloween.

I mean, sure, that kid Abe might have thrown the first punch, but he's a freshman, and those other two were provoking him. I mean, you know freshmen- they're dumasses; they'll fight anything that moves. Trust me, I only stepped in because I didn't want anyone to get hurt. And Tyrone definitely did not need to get involved. But, anyways, we were in the square. And two of those Kappa pledges: Sammy and Greg, were shitting all over Mu Tau Gamma. I'd only met them once, but it was enough to form an opinion. These two fuck heads were basically the reason why people hate freshmen.

"You know what I hate," Greg said. "Those Mu Tau Gamma guys. They're huge dicks."

"Huge dicks," Sammy agreed. "And, like, they have small dicks."

Greg snorted. "Oh man, burn. I totally bet they do. The smallest, bro."

I rolled my eyes. It was like they thought it was the greatest burn of all time or something, even though it wasn't even funny. They were probably just happy to have a douchy little club to be a part of.

"They're just sissy assholes with small dicks, man," Sammy continued. "I'm so glad we pledged Kappa, bro."

Greg nodded. "I know, dude. Every time I see some MTG asshole walking around campus like he owns it, I just want to punch him in the face."

"Yeah, man. I bet I could take one of them on."

"For sure, bro. I bet I could take on all of them at once, bro. With one hand tied behind my back."

Sammy have him a high-five. "Dude, yes. And then we'd sleep with their girlfriends."

"Probably do that better too. Y'know, because they have small penises," Greg elaborated.

And I was perfectly happy to let them have their little douche-fest without getting involved. But then two of our pledges, a kid named Abe and a friend who's name I couldn't remember, showed up. I was experienced with this kind of thing, and they were fresh from rush, fired up with house pride, and couldn't let those comments slide.

"Hey watch your mouths, assholes," Abe said, shoving Greg a little. "Do you have a problem with my frat?"

Sammy flipped him off and started walking away.

"Did you just flip me off, bro?" The kid I didn't know said.

Greg scoffed. "Well he didn't not flip you off, dipshit."

"Oh this is on!" Abe said, tackling Greg.

And then they started rolling around and shit and Sammy and the other guy jumped in too. They were totally whaling on each other, really just beating the shit out of each other. It's not like I was just going to let them kill each other; I had to step in.

"Guys, guys!" I shouted, pulling Greg off the pile. "Calm down, we're in public. The dean's office is right there; if she sees you fighting, you're all in deep shit."

"They were talking shit!" Abe protested, dusting himself off.

Sammy spit blood onto the sidewalk. "We were just saying how we're gonna kick the shit out of all the fucking Kappas and screw your preppy little girlfriends too."

Abe pushed past me to punch Sammy in the face and the group started beating each other again

"Hey! Knock it off!" I pulled Greg out of a headlock roughly and threw him to the ground.

"Yo, what the fuck do you think you're doing, Vause?"

I turned around to see Tyrone Baltimore standing over me, looking less than pleased, and felt a little nervous because Tyrone is a big, black dude and I'm kind of on the scrawny side.

"Chill out. Those freshmen were just looking for a fight," I explained. "I was just trying to break it up."

"Like hell you were," Tyrone said. He turned to the Greg and Sammy, who'd momentarily stopped brawling. "Was this fucker messing with you guys?"

"Yeah," they answered simultaneously.

"Was not!" the unnamed freshman shot back, but was immediately met with a kick in the shins from Greg.

"Guys, cut it out," I warned. "You're gonna get busted for fighting."

Tyrone pushed me back a little. "Hey, how about you shut the fuck up?"

A crowd had formed to watch the fight and my odds were not great. "Look man, I don't want to start-"

"Hey dipshit. My friend here said to shut the fuck up," Carlos Letterman interrupted. I hadn't even seen him walk over. Jesus these people moved like ninjas.

"Hey Benji," A voice interrupted. I turned to see Monty, president of the Mu Tau Gamma fraternity pushing through the crowd. So he was here too. Great. "Is that bastard giving you trouble?"

Tyrone scowled. "Who you calling bastard, you son of a-"

"What is going on here?" A voice rang out.

The crowd immediately dispersed as Dean Escalus made her way towards the fight.

"Boys!" she snapped at the brawling freshmen. "Get up right now!"

Abe, Sammy, Greg, and that other kid stood up sheepishly. They may have wanted to kill each other seconds before, but the dean is not someone to mess with. She's nice, but she can be straight up scary when she's mad.

"I have had more than enough of this nonsense between your two fraternities," Dean Escalus said sternly. "You boys have been fighting on campus, destroying property, and engaging in unsafe behavior since before I began working here, thirty years ago, and it has only gotten worse over the years. I have half a mind to disband both fraternities. This foolish rivalry has to end, or there will be consequences. From this point on, any young man found to be engaging in a physical altercation or damaging school property will be immediately ejected from the Greek system at Verona University, permanently."

"I'm sorry, ma'am," Greg said through swollen lips. "It won't happen again."

Dean Escalus eyed the battered freshman carefully. "Since this is you boys' first offence, I'll let you off with a warning. Don't let me find you fighting again. The four of you may go now."

She turned to me and Tyrone. "You two may not have thrown any punches, but I hope you know that when I say I will ban every student who causes trouble, it is not an empty threat."

"I was only trying to pull them off of each other," I clarified.

"I'm sure you were Benjamin," she said with a nod. She likes me because I head a community service organization on campus. Having the dean on my side really isn't the worst thing that's happened to me at college.

"Uh, yeah me too," Carlos added.

She glared at Carlos and Monty. "Don't get me started, Mr. Letterman. You and Mr. Gunn are the presidents of your respective fraternities and should be ashamed to be promoting such violence in your pledges. In fact, why don't you boys come to my office so we can have a little discussion."

The dean marched off towards the main building, Monty and Carlos trailing behind nervously.

Tyrone Glared at me before walking off. "This isn't over."

He was right of course. It was only beginning.